A Midsummer Night's Dream
by 7kingdomsRmine
Summary: Oneshot: It's Horatio Hornblower's first day at university.


_University AU: Horatio Hornblower is a new student at the Exonbury University, Wessex. Everything is new, everything is confusing. Beta'd by the amazing athenasdragon on Tumblr, a big thank you!_

Horatio is starting to sweat. He can't find the class schedule he made for himself and it's his very first day at the university, so he hasn't memorised it yet. He could've sworn it is somewhere in his bag… He curses inwardly and gives up. He will have to walk by every door in this corridor and look at the timetables hanging next to them. Which might mean he will be late. The thought of walking into a lecture that has already started and disturbing the professor makes him even more uneasy than he already is. Horatio closes his bag again and wipes a sweaty hand on his navy blue pullover. Then he walks towards the first room, eyes nervously flicking over the paper hanging on the wall. What was the professor's name again? Keene? Keane?

A kind-looking blond and blue-eyed young man with a square jaw and turned-up nose walks up to him and asks, "Are you looking for the Keats lecture?"

Keats? That sounded about right, so Horatio nods, still slightly breathless.

"It's just about to start, come in."

He lets out a breath of relief and returns the smile. "I'm Horatio, by the way."

"Archie. Pleased to meet you!"

 **Four months later**

The pub is loud and packed. Horatio scans the crowd, but doesn't find Archie. He recognises a few actors he saw on stage. Titania sits at the other end of the pub, still in full costume, and is chatting with Egeus and Lysander, both men already in their normal clothes. Titania's fairy servants, hair full of glitter, are having shots with Helena, Hermia, and a few other girls he doesn't know.

There is no one he knows personally. Horatio's heart sinks and he begins to feel out of place.

He turns to Maria who is still right behind him. The girl with the brown curls studies pharmacy and Horatio knows her from a course. Once he'd talked to her a few times, she obviously decided that they were friends. After telling Archie he'd come to see his play, he realised it'd be very awkward to turn up all alone, so he'd asked her. He's glad that Maria agreed to come with him.

"Shall we get a drink?"

She shyly dimples and nods. "Yes, let's."

He can hardly hear her over the noise of people talking. How can anyone have a decent conversation when it's so loud? He makes his way to the bar, attempting not to bump into too many people, and frequently turning to Maria to make sure he doesn't lose her in the crowd.

When he finally arrives at the counter, he turns back to her. "Is beer alright?"

"I'd rather have a cider, please."

After a few minutes, he gets the attention of the bartender and orders two Magners. They manage to find a bar table without spilling too much of their drinks.

He should do some small talk, he tells himself, before an awkward silence develops. He knows himself too well, and Maria isn't always that talkative. "Thanks for coming along", he shouts over the other voices.

"No problem, it was fun! It was a very good play, don't you think?" She is still smiling.

"Yes, very funny."

Suddenly there's an arm wraps itself around his shoulder, clumsily, and a voice says, just a little too loud, "Here you are! Did you like it?"

Horatio smiles and turns his head to Archie. "Hi, Oberon. Of course I did!"

"And you've brought a lovely lady! Hello, I'm Archie", his friend beams at Maria, shoves his drink into Horatio's free hand, and leans forward to kiss her cheek.

Horatio sees the girl's face redden, and how she mumbles her name in return, completely inaudible. She is clearly smitten. It's the effect Archie has on most girls.

It's a surprisingly unwelcome turn of events and Horatio clears his throat. "This is Maria, she's in my statistics course."

Archie still beams at her. "So good to meet you. All of Horatio's friends are my friends, too."

Maria smiles but shyly but averts her eyes and inspects the floor of the pub instead of answering.

That's easy for him to say, I don't have that many friends, Horatio thinks sullenly, and hands Archie his drink back.

"I'll go and spend a penny, boys", Maria pipes up. Her cheeks are still a little flush.

"Sure. We'll guard your cider", Archie offers.

The girl grabs her handbag and swiftly disappears into the crowd.

She took her bag, so she'll probably put on more make up, to impress Archie, Horatio broods.

Archie takes a sip of his wine. "How did your test for professor Pellew's lecture go, by the way? I didn't get the chance to ask you after. I think I did quite well, should be enough to pass."

Horatio feels his heart sink. This is it. He can't let this go any further. "Archie, I have to tell you something."

His friend turns his attention to him. "Yes?"

Horatio swallows and clasps his arm with his hand. "I- I don't study English literature."

Archie frowns. "What were you doing in that Keats lecture all this time? Do you need any supplementary credit points?"

"No… no. I do maths and physics only."

Archie raises a confused eyebrow. "Then why _were_ you there? It's not like you can't get enough of Romantic poetry, that much I could tell."

"Well, um. The first time I attended the lecture was my first day at university, and I had no idea where which room is, and I was looking for professor Keene, not the Keats lecture, but it sounded so similar that when you asked me if I was looking for Keats I said yes, and only noticed it was the wrong room once Pellew started talking about the basic characteristics of Romanticism, and I was terrified, to be honest, because I did not want to miss Keene's lecture, but it turned out I had gotten the time wrong anyway so it didn't matter, and I also did not want to disturb professor Pellew once he started talking, it would've been too embarrassing to leave then, so I just stayed."

He takes a deep breath. Archie looks slightly confused but not too gobsmacked. That is good.

"Okay, so you walked into the wrong room once, but… You didn't have to return. You didn't have to write an exam. The credit points are useless to you. We even learned together!"

"Well, you were being so kind to me. I didn't know how else to see you again, so I just… I kept coming."

There is a pause. "That's… that's…"

Horatio swallows. "I know I'm weird, but I didn't know how to tell you the truth."

"You endured metrical phonology… to _see_ _me_?"

"I, um, I guess? Please, don't hate me now."

Archie shakes his head and starts to smile. "I could never! This has got to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I had no idea you liked my company so much."

He feels his cheeks grow warm. "I- er- I do."

 _The dim light of the pub caught in soft, golden hair, sweet breath on his lips, warm lips, Horatio's hands suddenly shaking_


End file.
